‘Everything is quagga mussel now’: can invasive species be stopped?

This is the guardian.

0:00

Why choose a Sleep number Smart bed Can I make my site softer?

0:10

Can I make my site firmer? Can we sleep cooler?

0:13

Sleep number does that cools up to eight times faster and lets you choose your ideal comfort on either side your Sleep number setting. Enjoy personalized comfort for better sleep night after night. And now during our President's day sale take 50% off our limited edition bed. Shop now for a limited time only at a sleep number store or sleepnumber.com.

0:17

Celebrate your special someone at Whole Foods Market with the ingredient standards they deserve. Get baked treats with no bleached or bromated flour and no FD&C synthetic dyes like red number three. Find yellow sale signs and make the night sizzle with savings on caviar, New York strip steak and more. Don't forget to find the perfect bouquet and those romantic chocolate dipped strawberries. Taste the love all month at Whole Foods Market.

0:40

Late last year, biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston took a trip to Lake Geneva.

1:13

It's a beautiful alpine lake nestled in the west of Switzerland. You can see France just the other side of the lake. With the mountains dropping straight in the.

1:19

December chill, she headed out with a team of ecologists.

1:31

We went out to a floating research station and it was evening. The sun was setting. It was really beautiful.

1:35

Everything looked completely normal. But below the surface, a total transformation has taken place.

1:41

This team of researchers pulled out these ropes keeping the floating research station in place and they were absolutely caked in quagga mussels and it looked like costume jewelry. One of the professors I was with described it like if you look under the surface of the lake, it looks like a meadow of quagga mussels. They're absolutely everywhere.

1:49

These tiny striped brown mussels are one of the planet's most potent invasive species. One female can produce up to a million egg cells.

2:14

They can breed all year round and spawn in temperatures as low as 5 degrees Celsius. At Lake Geneva, they've been found at record breaking depths of 250 meters. Now this is a pitch black environment where there's almost no oxygen and nothing else can really survive other than microbes.

2:24

Each mussel can filter up to two litres of water a day, feeding on phytoplankton, the basis of the lake's food chain, with cascading impacts up the entire food web and to the fishermen who depend on it. But the ubiquitous presence of the quaggers is causing some unexpected problems too.

2:45

The Swiss Federal Technology Institute, or EPFL in Lausanne is a research institute which in the 70s, created what was a really innovative cooling system which involved scooping very cold water deep out of Lake Geneva and then running it round the university building.

3:03

The mussels have clogged up the pipes like cholesterol in an artery. The buildings are now struggling to stay cool in the summer, and long running experiments that need constant temperatures are at risk.

3:23

The most famous experiment they have is Tokamak, which is an experimental nuclear fusion facility. And that needs to be cooled, otherwise it will melt. So there's a lot kind of hanging on this air cooling system, which is in a pretty bad way right now.

3:35

The quagga mussels are a symbol of something much larger, the huge and often invisible toll invasive species are having on our planet.

3:51

It's one of the main drivers of.

4:00

Biodiversity decline, and that impacts us. A report from 2023 estimated that invasive species cost humans more than $400 billion every year. So today, can you stop an invasive species in its tracks? And what next for Lake Geneva? From the Guardian, I'm Madeline Findlay and this is Science Weekly.

4:02

It's a remarkable takeover of an ecosystem that has probably been relatively stable for hundreds, if not thousands of years. And this change has happened in the blink of an eye.

4:35

Quagga mussels arrived in Switzerland in 2014. Just a decade later, when researchers did a survey in Lake Geneva, every single sample they pulled up was a quagga mussel, Phoebe.

4:46

They come from a region of the Black Sea called the Ponto Caspian region, and they basically spread from there around the world via shipping routes. So they were first detected in North America in the Great Lakes in 1989. And that's kind of a cautionary tale of what could happen in some lakes in Europe. So researchers have found that they make up more than 99% of all invertebrate biomass in some of these lakes. So everything is basically quagga mussel.

4:59

Now, when I looked at some of the pictures from your trip, like you say, it's just absolutely shocking the amount of these quagga mussels, that they've kind of overtaken everything. And it kind of shows how impactful the arrival of a new invasive species can be on native populations.

5:30

Definitely. Ecologists think that invasive species play a major role in more than 60% of plant and animal extinctions worldwide. Even in the UK, we have examples of invasive species which probably lots of listeners will be aware of. So, for example, the red and grey squirrel, if you also think about parakeets, which I'm sure if there are any Londoners Listening to this podcast, you'll be familiar with the sound of parakeets squawking over London. It's likely that these were pets that have escaped. It seems that parakeets are likely to be out competing native bird species, but I think they haven't been around for long and that research is still being done. Then also plants like Japanese knotweed, Himalayan balsam, which can be rife along canal and riverbanks. So these species are causing havoc in ecosystems in which they're introduced. And this is because they didn't evolve in our ecosystem. So there's not the checks and balances that keep them in place, you know, so that they basically can find an ecological niche and spread really quickly. And they're kind of uncontrolled in a way that native species are.

5:50

As you said, with the parakeets in London, the theory is that these were most likely pets that have escaped. And so, you know, all these insects, these plants, these mammals that are coming into these new ecological niches and sort of taking over. Presumably that's us introducing them.

7:04

Yeah, it's driven by human activity. So ships, planes, global supply chains means that humans are increasingly in contact with each other. We're sharing more goods and moving around the world more than we ever did. And insects, plants, animals, they're moving with us. Some years ago, I did a botany tour of London and the botanists said that most new plant species that arrive in the UK come to London. And it's because London is such an international city and when people come to live here, they bring with them seeds and plants from home that they have in their gardens and then they escape.

7:26

So, Phoebe, you obviously want to stop a species before, before it arrives. I guess in the case of seeds being carried from a home country, that's all about biosecurity measures at Borders. And then there's things like introducing regulations and monitoring things really carefully. But what happens when a species slips through the net and has already arrived? I know in the case of the Asian or yellow legged hornets that are threatening UK honeybees, a lot of effort is going into tracking down the nests and destroying them. But what other methods are there?

8:10

Yeah, one thing I've been really interested in recent years is using the contraceptive pill, which mainly works with longer lived mammals. Scientists for a while have been looking at mixing contraceptives with food and then putting them out in feeders. So this could be a way to tackle grey squirrels in the uk, but people are really cautious about introducing contraceptives into the wider environment because it May be that the squirrels eat it, maybe something else eats it. There's many unknowns about this approach, but it's more humane. So, for example, there's an area in Cumbria where there's sort of a red squirrel stronghold, and there's numbers all over the place saying, if you see a gray squirrel, call someone, and basically you call the number and this someone will come and shoot the gray squirrels, which some people may find a bit inhumane. So I think contraceptives could be a more palatable way to control an invasive species.

8:46

Another method I find really interesting, but which also comes with a lot of potential risks, is introducing biological controls so other species that might predate on the invasive one or reduce its spread in some way. What's happening there?

9:42

So this is often not about totally eradicating the species in question, but it can keep their population in check without negatively affecting others. These things typically take many years or even decades of testing before they're rolled out, because you're introducing new species into the environment, which obviously carries its own risks. So since the mid 2010s, the UK government's approved the release of the leaf mining weevil to attack Himalayan balsam. And the idea is that the weevil lays eggs on the plant, which weakens it, and I think it has contained it in some places. They also released the silid insect, which does the same thing with Japanese knotweed, which it exclusively feeds on. So there's definitely research going on in this area. I would say that it's not a quick fix, but there does seem some promising results so far.

9:59

These biological controls, you do want them really well researched because it brings to mind for me, you know, the woman who swallowed a fly and then, you know, swallows a spider to eat the fly. And you can imagine these sorts of things inadvertently creating a worse problem than the one that you already have. There is a danger of that, but it totally makes sense, particularly when you have, say, a plant that's already so widespread that mechanical removal basically is just gonna be an impossible task, you know, a kind of Sisyphean feat. Are we really just trying close the stable door once the horse is bolted in, thinking that we can manage invasive species or frankly, even prevent them?

10:56

Yeah, as you say, it's kind of playing God, isn't it? And they're imperfect solutions. They're definitely effective on islands because it's an isolated environment. So there's examples of successful killings of rats on islands to help ground nesting birds, and that can be hugely effective. But otherwise our ecosystems are too complex, really. To properly tackle invasive species once they've got a foothold. So certainly with the quagga mussels, the researchers I spoke to were like, there's nothing you can do now. And there is an effort to try and hoover them up, but the researchers just said that is just a non starter. I mean these things, once they're there, they're there. Basically they were like, we just need to accept it. And I think that's perhaps the case with other invasive species as well, that once they're there, there's really nothing you can do.

11:43

Coming up, does our approach to invasive species need a radical rethink?

12:38

Celebrate your special someone at Whole Foods Market with the ingredient standards they deserve. Get baked treats with no bleached or bromated flour and no FD&C synthetic dyes like Red no. 3. Find yellow sale signs and make the night sizzle. With savings on caviar, New York strip steak and more. Don't forget to find the perfect bouquet and those romantic chocolate dipped strawberries. Taste the love all month at Whole Foods Market.

12:59

Phoebe, what about the role of climate change in all of this?

13:33

Well, it means that species that previously couldn't survive in places now can. I had a very interesting chat with an ecologist called Charlie Gardner who believes that we should be doing assisted colonization, which is essentially moving non native species to other countries because our climate is changing so fast. So for example, he said we should be looking to get Spanish Oaks up in the UK because our climate in the coming decades is projected to become more like the climate of Spain and that these species would actually do well in the uk. But I will say that you'd be careful as to where you got these species from. So something that comes from Spain is less likely to be invasive in the UK than something that comes from, say, America or Asia. And that's because we're basically closer together. These countries are on the same longitudes, so they're kind of cousins of the species that we already have, which means they're less likely to cause trouble.

13:37

It's quite a radical idea trying to transplant the beginnings of a new ecosystem.

14:37

It totally is. And it is also controversial. Lots of people don't agree with it and it is also playing God. But we have played God with the climate and that is irrevocably changing our ecosystem. So do we either leave them and just see what happens or do we intervene and try and strengthen them by introducing new species? It's quite an interesting question.

14:43

You've explained the massive impact that invasive species are having on biodiversity. And you've seen this for yourself in Lake Geneva, where there's nothing now that can be done. What are your reflections on all of this?

15:07

The issue obviously needs to be taken more seriously. So there are still some lakes in Switzerland that don't have quagga mussels. And the priority is obviously to keep them this way if possible. I also think that this is kind of the nature of the Anthropocene. And a lot of this feels quite hopeless because it feels like there's not a huge amount that can be done. This was something that Bass, one of the researchers from the University of Geneva who I spoke to on the floating labs, he was like, we can feel really depressed about that and frustrated and think about this beautiful lake ecosystem that has been destroyed. But also it's happened now and this presents an opportunity to study something new. It's a new environment. We need to accept the fact that this lake is never gonna be what it used to be before. And he said it, in the future, it could be that a fish might evolve that would feed on the quagga mussels. It could be that this lake might find some equilibrium again. When thinking about nature, he took a really long view. He said, nature will always survive and it's dynamic and what's happening in Lake Geneva is very alarming. But in the grand scheme of sort of the planet's life, nature will find a way. It will reinvent itself in some way.

15:20

At some point, something will eat the quagga mussels.

16:43

When we're all dead, probably.

16:46

We won't be eating the quagga mussels.

16:50

Someone very far in the future might be there to experience that.

16:52

Phoebe, thank you so much.

16:56

Thanks for having me on. Muddy.

16:58

A big thanks to Phoebe Weston. Her Reporting is on theguardian.com and that's where you can also find the rest of the Age of Extinction project, covering the planet's catastrophic species loss and ways to tackle the biodiversity crisis. And that's it for today. This episode was produced by me, Madeline Finlay. It was sound, designed by Ross Burns and the executive producer is Ellie Burey. We'll be back on Tuesday. See you then. This is the Guardian.

17:02

Big news. Boost Mobile is now sending experts nationwide to deliver and set up customers new phones at home or work? Wait, we're going on tour? Not a tour. We're delivering and setting up customers phones so it's easier to upgrade. Let's get in the tour bus and hit the road. No, not a tour bus. It's a regular car. We use to deliver and set up customers phones at home or work.

17:47

Are you a groupie on this tour?

18:04

We deliver and set up phones. It's not a tour. Oh, you're definitely a groupie. Introducing store to door switch and get a new device with expert setup and delivery wherever you're at. Delivery available for select devices purchased@boostmobile.com why.

18:05

Choose a Sleep Number smart bed? Can I make my site softer?

18:17

Can I make my site firmer? Can we sleep cooler?

18:21

Sleep number does that cools up to eight times faster and lets you choose your ideal comfort on either side your sleep number setting. Enjoy personalized comfort for better sleep night after night. And now during our President's day sale, take 50% off our limited edition bed Shop now for a limited time only at a Sleep number store or sleepnumber.com.

18:24

Decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day. But what policy changes should investors be watching? Washington Wise is an original podcast from Charles Schwab that unpacks the stories making news in Washington right now and how they may affect your finance and portfolio. Listen@schwab.com WashingtonWise.

18:47